An alternative slogan if you don't like that one: Someone has to win this crappy division(from alnorth)

With the beginning of a new year, it is time for the 2012 version of the Royals Repository Thread. We've got Hosmer, we've got a 2011-dominating Gordon, we've got Moose, we've got hopefully a killer bullpen, we've got a stereotypical slow slugging DH, we've got easily one of the best defensive shortstops in the AL, we've got a promising catcher in Salvador Perez. Hell, we've got offense and promising prospects galore.

We do not have starting pitching.

Oh yeah, we've also got this:

Get ready for, (as of January 2012 anyway), one of the most confusing puzzles of a baseball season in recent Royals history. Will they suck? Maybe, I don't know. Will we be given a year of 0.500 baseball? Possibly, I don't know. Will they win the division and go to the playoffs for the first time in 27 years? For the first time in a long time, it could happen, I don't know. 92 losses, 92 wins, or anything in between would not surprise a lot of us.

Everything goes here except Gameday threads and really big news. If a giant story breaks, the Royals achieve some awesome milestone, or we sign/lose a highly significant player/coach/mascot/whatever, then it might also deserve its own thread. This being Chiefs Planet, please do not clutter the board with new threads about trivial Royals news or you will only annoy those who come here for just Chiefs football. If you aren't sure and its not a Gameday thread, it goes here.

What sort of stuff often goes here? SPchief explained it well, so I'll just copy that:

Quote:

If you locate something of interest.. ANYTHING.. deals on apparel, best ways in/out of the stadium, giveaways, great stories from this season or from seasons gone by, rumors, trades, anything.... feel free to post it here.

The request we're sending to bloggers of all 30 teams this spring is a simple one: What are the 10 best things about being a fan of your favorite team? What features of the franchise have you excited for opening day and what keeps you coming back year after year?

Over the next few weeks, we'll give each of the 30 teams a day in the spotlight, showcasing the icons and traditions that make each big-league hamlet special. Up next is our pal Ryan Wood, an expat Royals fan in San Diego who once wrote about the wonders of a 20-year-old Ken Griffey Jr. chocolate bar for Big League Stew.

1. Our history is simple: A handful of division titles. One World Series loss. One World Series victory. One Hall of Famer. We've experienced all the delight of being a winning baseball fan, but in small doses so we actually appreciate them rather than expect them.

The Yankees can take their 27 rings. They can't even remember how they got half of them. In fact, have we even double-checked that number to make sure it's right? The Royals, on the other hand, have one beautiful championship to forever cherish, a seven-game classic in 1985 won fairly and squarely without any controversy whatsoever. We will always remember, and never take it for granted.

2. Our stadium is a cougar: I mean, look at her. She's 39 years old and she is smoking hot. Every time she gets a face-lift, she looks even better. While all of the other cookie-cutter ballparks from Kauffman Stadium's era were run-down, terrible-looking pieces of waste that have been ditched for a younger beauty, our stadium is every bit as gorgeous as it was on the day that it opened.

3. George Brett: The story goes that in 1990, during a wretched losing streak, the younger players were stewing and pointing fingers in the clubhouse. Big John Mayberry, then a Royals coach, came storming in to shut them up.

"You guys have never won anything," he said. "What do you know about winning? Look at those flags in left field. A lot of great players helped hang those flags.

"You want to know about winning? Then shut up and ask No. 5 because he hung them all."

Brett is still adored in Kansas City to this day. Our franchise owes everything to him. He retired in 1993 and has lived in Kansas City ever since. He has helped us through this putrid 20-year stretch by being a face of the franchise, doing TV commercials, interviews, and assuring us that the glory days he led us through can be re-lived again with the young batch of talent coming in. We need that from him.

The Royals only won 75 games the year of Mayberry's rant. But Brett? He won his third and final batting title by hitting .329.

4. Our future is bright: Buy your high-priced free agents, Yankees. Pillage the poorer markets when their players just enter their primes, Red Sox. The Royals are going to get this done sometime in the next few years, do it with all home-grown players, and it's going to be so much more rewarding that way.

Royals GM Dayton Moore has tried to keep fans happy while his future stars seasoned in the minors. He signed Jose Guillen (thanks, Dayton) and other so-so players to bide the time. He asked us to "trust the process" and when the losing kept going, fans started mocking that slogan.

But after seeing flashes of Kansas City's future last season — Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Aaron Crow, Salvador Perez, Johnny Giavotella, Alex Gordon — we can't help but trust it. The next four or five years are going to be a blast.

5. Bo: Man, I love Bo Jackson. I was 8 years old in 1989 when he hit that 900-foot home run at the All-Star game in Anaheim. That day, I was infected with Bo Fever. It's been 23 years and I'm still sick.

What Bo gave the Royals in their post-playoff years was the spotlight. He was a folk hero. He was so big, so fast, so strong and, best of all, so charismatic. One game, I wasn't even watching the action. I was watching Bo in left field, twirling his glove on his finger like a basketball between pitches. I thought this was the coolest thing ever.

Bo was Kansas City's all-time biggest rock star, and even though his career was cut short, I hereby call on the Royals to put him in the team's Hall of Fame already.

6. T-shirt Tuesday: I'm not even sure how this started, or exactly what year it debuted. But once a month, the Royals have a Tuesday night T-Shirt giveaway. You should see the Royals T-Shirts I have piled high to the ceiling in my closet. A George Brett powder blue shirsey with pine tar stains on the shoulder. A Zack Greinke "Ace" T-Shirt that, without any good reason, I still wear. Even dumb ones like a "Ketchup" shirt promoting who I should root for in the video board's nightly Hot Dog race (Mustard and Relish can eat sand).

Thanks to this promotion, I don't have to fill out lame credit-card applications just to get a free Royals T-shirt.

7. "Good evening Royals fans": There's really nothing better as a sports fan than to have the same play-by-play announcer your entire life. It's a treat.

Every time I hear Denny Matthews call Royals games, the simpler days of my youth are closer than ever. Denny, while a bit less enthusiastic in recent years, is still sharp, still occasionally funny and still calls the action identically to how he did it in 1969 in the Royals' inaugural season. It's the same voice I heard long after I was supposed to be in bed during West Coast trips. The same voice I heard on my parents' boat at the Lake of the Ozarks every summer. The same voice I hear piping through the concourse speakers at Kauffman Stadium when I'm going to buy chili cheese fries.

I often wonder if iconic announcers realize just how much they mean to a fan base. Denny Matthews is Kansas City Royals baseball more than anyone else, and I hope he has 40 more years in him.

8. You know we're serious: It must be agonizing to be a true fan of the Boston Red Sox. If you are, you're surrounded by bandwagon clowns who want to be taken seriously. Some of those fans have never even been east of the Mississippi River, let alone attended a game at Fenway Park. I have sympathy for you, real Red Sox fans, because the fans I'm talking about show up at Kauffman Stadium for three annoying games every year.

But if you're a Royals fan, you're for real. Your devotion is never questioned. Our bandwagon pretty much empties after the opening day party. I'd guess every single Royals fan out there has a connection of some sort to Kansas City. Go to a Royals game on the road, as I often do, and you can pick up a conversation with anybody else wearing a KC hat and find out that they probably grew up right down the street from you. No pretenders here.

9. Tailgating: It's not as rampant as Milwaukee tailgating (which is pretty much brats and beer). But tailgating at the Truman Sports Complex is a fun way to kick off a night at the old ballpark.

Personally, my crew would either bring a grill or stop by a famous Kansas City barbecue joint and pick up some amazing food. Grab a six-pack of Boulevard to responsibly chug one after another. With weeknight crowds sparse, the parking lot is a wide-open playground. Take a football and go deep or grab a baseball and play long-toss. Your rotator cuff will hate you and might even rip to shreds, but whatever.

You know, I actually don't really have a connection to KC means I live right up in IOWA. I actually started liking KC when I was about 2 months old ... Been one my whole life. My dad was born in 69 (the year Chiefs won the SB) and he went to a game when he was a kid and liked them ever since. My mom and him were already Royals fans and always brought me down to the K for games when I was younger. Watched Dye and Sweeney play. What an experience! They also brought me down to a couple Chiefs training camps... Of course I was too young to really know who was a player. My dad says I went up to a tall black janitor and asked for a autograph (I didn't know better!)..
Just went to my second Chiefs game at Arrowhead last November (terrible dolphins game) for my b-day! We plan on going to more next year and go to some Royals games this year.

You know, I actually don't really have a connection to KC means I live right up in IOWA. I actually started liking KC when I was about 2 months old ... Been one my whole life. My dad was born in 69 (the year Chiefs won the SB) and he went to a game when he was a kid and liked them ever since. My mom and him were already Royals fans and always brought me down to the K for games when I was younger. Watched Dye and Sweeney play. What an experience! They also brought me down to a couple Chiefs training camps... Of course I was too young to really know who was a player. My dad says I went up to a tall black janitor and asked for a autograph (I didn't know better!)..
Just went to my second Chiefs game at Arrowhead last November (terrible dolphins game) for my b-day! We plan on going to more next year and go to some Royals games this year.

You know, I actually don't really have a connection to KC means I live right up in IOWA. I actually started liking KC when I was about 2 months old ... Been one my whole life. My dad was born in 69 (the year Chiefs won the SB) and he went to a game when he was a kid and liked them ever since. My mom and him were already Royals fans and always brought me down to the K for games when I was younger. Watched Dye and Sweeney play. What an experience! They also brought me down to a couple Chiefs training camps... Of course I was too young to really know who was a player. My dad says I went up to a tall black janitor and asked for a autograph (I didn't know better!)..
Just went to my second Chiefs game at Arrowhead last November (terrible dolphins game) for my b-day! We plan on going to more next year and go to some Royals games this year.

There is my fan experience!!!

I was 16 when we won the World Series in '85. I went outside and sprinted around the house about 15 times screaming WOOOOOOOOOT!!!!! It was damn good to have gotten that Yankee monkey off our back (although we actually beat the Blue Jays that year but still) on the 7th try in the playoffs and even nicer maybe to beat StL for the title. In fact I feel like going outside and running around the house screaming again just thinking about it.

__________________
courtesy of BoneKrusher

"Baseball? It's just a game. As simple as a ball and bat, yet as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. It's a sport, a business and sometimes a religion."

You know, I actually don't really have a connection to KC means I live right up in IOWA. I actually started liking KC when I was about 2 months old ... Been one my whole life. My dad was born in 69 (the year Chiefs won the SB) and he went to a game when he was a kid and liked them ever since. My mom and him were already Royals fans and always brought me down to the K for games when I was younger. Watched Dye and Sweeney play. What an experience! They also brought me down to a couple Chiefs training camps... Of course I was too young to really know who was a player. My dad says I went up to a tall black janitor and asked for a autograph (I didn't know better!)..
Just went to my second Chiefs game at Arrowhead last November (terrible dolphins game) for my b-day! We plan on going to more next year and go to some Royals games this year.

There is my fan experience!!!

I was best friends with one of Frank White's sons all through grade school and high school. During one of our basketball games, a little kid walked up to my day (who was talking to Frank) and just stared at him. He asked him if he (my dad) was Frank White, and my dad said yes. The kid looked at him funny and asked, "are you sure? My dad says you're Frank White, but I don't think you are."

It was pretty funny. My dad told him the truth just before signing the autograph.

I was best friends with one of Frank White's sons all through grade school and high school. During one of our basketball games, a little kid walked up to my day (who was talking to Frank) and just stared at him. He asked him if he (my dad) was Frank White, and my dad said yes. The kid looked at him funny and asked, "are you sure? My dad says you're Frank White, but I don't think you are."

It was pretty funny. My dad told him the truth just before signing the autograph.

Frank is my all time favorite player. His daughter was in my brother's class, so Frank would show up at some events. There were a couple of times he and I would be standing in a hallway or stairwell alone and he'd strike up a conversation, idle talk mostly.

I'm sure it was interesting for him talking with an awestruck 13-14 year old who couldn't articulate more than an "uh" because I was awestruck. Of course, this was the early to mid-80's, so the team was around their pinnacle.

YES YES YES!!!! Successfully re-downloaded photoshop and all my other picture programs! Okay accepting requests again!
P.S. If you requested before but didn't get there picture please request because I forgot all who wanted what and who requested.
First project since redownloading it vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv (My sig)

YES YES YES!!!! Successfully re-downloaded photoshop and all my other picture programs! Okay accepting requests again!
P.S. If you requested before but didn't get there picture please request because I forgot all who wanted what and who requested.
First project since redownloading it vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv (My sig)

YES YES YES!!!! Successfully re-downloaded photoshop and all my other picture programs! Okay accepting requests again!
P.S. If you requested before but didn't get there picture please request because I forgot all who wanted what and who requested.
First project since redownloading it vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv (My sig)

I'd love a pic for my avatar. Don't really care who it is as long as it's one of the main players coming up with the team.